174
FLIGHT
International,
3 February
•• 1966
The first of Air Canada's 18 DC-9s (six Series IOs and 12 of the stretched Series 30) is marshalled into position at Montreal
International. Services with the DC-9 are to be started by Air Canada in April
AIR TRANSPORT...
THE AIR-INDIA DISASTER
AS reported briefly in last week's issue (page 131) an Air-India
Boeing 707-437, registration VT-DMN, hit Rocher de la Tour-
nette, a 15,330ft peak of Mont Blanc (15,782ft) at 0707hr GMT
on January 24 while descending on an approach to Geneva. A
minute before the trace of the aircraft disappeared from Geneva
radar screens the pilot, Capt J. T. d'Souza reported his height
as 18,600ft.
The 707, en route from Bombay to New York via Beirut,
Geneva and London, was reported to have chosen to make a
procedural let-down rather than one under radar control. Mont
Blanc itself is a reporting point where final let-downs to the
Geneva approach pattern are initiated. Arrival over the Mont
Blanc reporting point, however, would be indicated to the crew
only by a cross bearing from Lyon VOR some 82 n.m. distant
in an area where ground aids are notoriously unreliable, even
at medium ranges, because of the terrain.
In view of the strong headwinds which would be delaying
the 707 and the weakness of the bearing information from
Lyon the captain may have thought he was well past Mont
Blanc and begun the descent Mont Blanc is also the point
where Italian radar hands over control of aircraft to Geneva
radar, but, once again, terrain problems often cause aircraft
traces to be lost from radar screens for short periods in this
area.
The fatalities totalled 117 (106 passengers and 11 crew) in
the crash, which is the first accident to a scheduled service of
Air-India. By a remarkable coincidence the crash occurred at
almost the same place as that of an Air-India Constellation on
a charter flight in November 1950 in which 48 passengers and
crew were killed. One of India's leading atomic scientists, Dr
H. J. Bhabha, was among the passengers killed. Air-India
employees, apart from the crew, who lost their lives included
Mr G. Bertoli, the carrier's regional director for Europe; Mr
G. V. Sivaswami, superintendent, technical operations; and two
Americans and one French girl who were on the USA staff.
Temperatures of minus 11°F were reported by rescuers who
reached the crash site in helicopters and recovery of the wreck-
age and bodies is expected to take several months.
CPA BUYS DC-8-63s
A SECOND order for the capacity-and-range-stretched DC-8-63
has been placed. As recorded briefly in last week's issue (page
131) Canadian Pacific Airlines has ordered three for delivery in
June, July and September next year at a cost of about $11 mil-
lion (£4 million) each. The first carrier to buy the "Super 63"
was KLM, which has ordered two.
Canadian Pacific says that the 63s will be used initially on
heavy traffic routes, such as the transcontinental, Tokyo/Hong
Kong and winter-season Honolulu services. They will be laid
out for 205 passengers—185 economy and 20 first class.
Accident in Haiti Twenty-eight people were reported killed
when an aircraft belonging to the Haitian airline Cohata
crashed shortly after take-off from Cayes, 100 miles south-
west of the capital, Port au Prince, on January 22.
Wien Air Alaska The name of Wien Alaska Airlines, which
started operations in 1924, has, reports Aviation Daily, been
changed to Wien Air Alaska to "prevent confusion" and to
"follow the present trend" in carrier names.
737s for Piedmont An order for six Boeing 737-lOOs, with
an option on six more, has been placed by Piedmont Airlines,
the US local-service carrier. Deliveries are to start in March
1968, at one a month, with service introduction in April.
Bristol Siddeley Engines will take over the lease of the Birch-
grove, Cardiff, factory of the British Aircraft Corporation
Guided Weapons Division. About half of the BAC employees
will be taken on by Bristol Siddeley when the factory changes
hands next year.
An-24s for Norway The Oslo-based charter carrier, Polaris
Air Transport, is reported by Interavia to be considering the
purchase of one or more 54-passenger An-24 twin-turboprops.
Two directors of Polaris have recently been in Moscow for
negotiations. The carrier now has two DC-3s.
Eastern Applies for Pacific Rights Following the application
from American Airlines (see Flight for January 20, page 91),
Eastern Airlines has applied to the CAB for authority to serve
major centres in the Pacific and south-east asia, via Hawaii,
from Seattle. Last year Eastern applied for south Pacific rights
via Mexico City.
BOAC Sells More Comets Two Comet 4s have been bought
by the Ecuador airline AREA, Aerovias Ecuatorianas, under
a lease-purchase contract for delivery in April and July. BOAC
has now disposed of ten of its 18 Comets, including five to
Malaysian, one to East African and two to Mexicana—which
is to do Comet maintenance for AREA; The price being paid
by AREA for the Comets is about £1 million, in US dollars.
Loan for Aerolineas 707s Doubts about the firmness of
the proposal of Aerolineas Argentinas to buy Boeing 707-320Bs
were dispelled last month when the Export-Import Board
authorised a loan of $25 million (£9 million) for the purchase.
Credit to a total of $4 million (£1.6 million), to help to meet
the total cost of $37 million (£13 million), has been extended
by Boeing.
More DC-9s for Iberia Twelve more DC-9s have, according
to Interavia, been ordered by Iberia, bringing its future fleet
of the type to 15. The first three ordered are due for delivery
in June, July and August; the second series is due for delivery
during the first nine months of 1967. No statement had, last
week, been made by Douglas; the order was announced at a
meeting in Madrid to Iberia representatives.